


Made for Each Other

by delorita, JC Oakenshield (SilverFountains)



Category: Da Vinci's Demons
Genre: Love Confessions, M/M, Philosophy
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-12-01
Updated: 2016-12-01
Packaged: 2018-09-03 16:20:03
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,883
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/8720494
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/delorita/pseuds/delorita, https://archiveofourown.org/users/SilverFountains/pseuds/JC%20Oakenshield
Summary: When Zoroaster bumps into Girolamo Riario coming out of Leonardo's workshop early in the morning he is quick to put two and two together. And he is ready to question his friend's sanity at such a poor choice of bed-partner, only to find Leo's infatuation with the count is much greater than he had guessed.





	

**Author's Note:**

> Life without love is no life at all - Leonardo da Vinci

Count Riario had hoped that it was early enough in the morning to leave Leonardo’s workshop unseen. But to his regret he nearly bumps straight into the artist’s mongrel side-kick as soon as he has closed the door behind him.

He opens his mouth to make a snide remark, but reminds himself that this is his now lover’s best friend and instead gives the other man a forced polite nod.

Zoroaster frowns at the very early visitor. _Leaving._ He forces a quick nod back, before pushing past him, storming into Leonardo’s workshop, hoping the other won't follow him back in.

"Please tell me you didn’t!" he towers over Leonardo, hands on his hips, eyes full of anger.  

"Didn’t what?" Leo asks distractedly, his hair peaking wildly and his clothes in disarray as he had hurriedly pulled them on. He furiously scribbles notes only to rip them up again, not looking at his friend.

"Fuck, you did! What were you thinking, Mr Know-it-all, bedding that killer?!"

Leo taps his fingers against his forehead, screwing his eyes shut as he tries to find the answer to the question that is plaguing him that he knows is in there somewhere. "He needed me. I needed him," he says plainly, a little irritated to be interrupted with questions about his sex life when there are far more important things to consider right now.

"He... he needed you?" Zo circles his friend slowly. "He could have killed you as well, for fuck’s sake!" He feels his rage boil inside about Leo's careless behaviour.

"What? No! That's ridiculous." Leo looks up now, frowning at Zoroaster. "Why would he kill me?" he shakes his head in genuine confusion why his friend cannot see that that makes no sense.

"I've seen the beast. I've seen him strangle people to death with his bare hands," Zo pokes Leo in the chest with his finger, "And they were twice your size!" he exaggerates a little.

Leonardo cannot suppress the smirk that appears at that. He knows his friend means well and he also knows that he has a valid point in some of what he's saying. But, “He's better now. I've got it under control. He was not in his right mind then, but with the treatment I've applied... “

"Ha!" Leo's best friend laughs out loud. "You've got it under control? Really?" Zo frowns, bending very close, their noses almost touching. "You said that before and off he went to lay hands on his girlfriend..."

“She is NOT his girlfriend!” Leo jumps up agitatedly, shoving Zoroaster back. He feels an ugly sting at Zo even suggesting such a thing.

“Don’t change the subject,” Zoro says under his breath now, wondering how to get through to his best buddy. “Okay, maybe she isn’t his girlfriend. But he had her by the throat anyway even though you assured everyone that he was fine.” He rakes his hand through his already unruly hair, “You can’t always be there when the demon takes over from his subconscious to talk him out of it! Damn it, Leo!”

Leonardo wants to argue back, opening his mouth, but he shuts it again. “Maybe not,” he acknowledges. “But …” He begins to pace, not quite sure what should follow that word.

Zo suddenly feels pity for his friend; seeing him lost for words is a very rare thing. “I wonder what’s made you so fond of him,” he says rather to himself than to the other. “He’s probably killed all his life.” He walks over to grab Leo by his shoulders and looks him in the eye, “Not even you can make a lamb out of a wolf.”

“Maybe I don't want to,” Leo blurts out the thought that first springs to mind. “He…  He's like me. Like a darker side of me.” He holds Zo’s gaze. “What if I admire him for that? For the fact that he does…” He abruptly stops talking. _That he does what sometimes I dream of doing…_

Zoroaster’s eyes grow wide, “That he does kill?” he turns away and rubs his hands over his face, his thoughts swirling. Of course Leo invents and builds weapons, of course they’re designed to kill, but somehow not like that. _Or is that really just the same?_

“It's not that simple!” Leo snarls in frustration. “It's not about the killing. It's not about good or evil.” He grabs Zo by his tunic, desperate to put this into words so his friend may understand. Somehow. “There is no good or evil. I know that is what Girolamo believes. But I don't. We are all just creations of our journey. Of our own choices and of those around us. And we all have our dark desires, our forbidden thoughts. It's just a perspective. You, like me,” he pulls a little more at the cloth to emphasise his words, “will not hesitate to run your sword through a Turk.” He lets go now of his friend, his hands flitting at the speed of his brain. “And in our minds that is justified. Right?”

Zo huffs at that, “Of course it’s justified!” _But damn he may be right, as always._

“So there we go. Why isn’t _that_ murder?” He cuts his friend off before he has a chance to respond to that. “Now, I'm _not_ saying that I approve of Girolamo's actions. But equally how can I hate him for it? Not when my own machines are designed to kill on a grand scale. I can only judge him by what he is to me.” He swallows, thinking about the night he had spent with Girolamo, the man he had desired for much longer than he had hated him.

“Tell me then, Zo, which one of us has fallen further? Me for putting aside my morals about him being a murderer or him for sleeping with me, a fucking sodomite? He didn't ask me to become a killer. But I asked him to become a sinner... ” He shakes his head at that himself. _Fuck, Zo is right, we're both lost._

Zoro screws his eyes together at the logic of his friend. The answer would clearly be Riario, since for him, a true believer, that’s such an outrageous thing to do. He muses over everything Leo had just explained to him. “Damn that’s fucked,” he mutters, rubbing his hair again, “If you see it like this, you’re just as dangerous to him as he is to you…” he hesitates, not sure if to continue, “maybe, maybe even more so,” he says under his breath and looks away, not able to comprehend what he’s just heard and said.

How can his kind and funny friend be just as scrupulous as Count _fucking_ Riario?

“Maybe there is only one thing that matters. And it isn't wars, or books or faith. And it isn't even knowledge or art.” Leo smiles, thinking about his lover again. Someone whom he admires and who admires him in turn. Someone who is his equal in so many ways. And who accepts all of him, even the bits he scarcely accepts of himself. “Girolamo believes that this life and the actions we take now determine the fate of our eternal soul. But what if all there is is this life, the here and now? Then surely the only thing that really matters is … love. In whatever form it takes.”

“L… love? You… you love him?” Zo blurts out.

“I think so,” Leo smiles a little shyly at that, expecting his friend to slap him to his senses.

Zoroaster shakes his head, looking at his friend. A faint blush creeps across Leo’s cheeks even as he admits this. _I should be happy that he confides in me with_ THAT _news._ “You’re completely crazy, my friend. I mean I knew that before but that’s … that’s just warped.” A chuckle escapes his lips. It warms his heart to see his friend loved up, but still…

Leonardo shrugs haphazardly. “The fucking world is at war. I don't know who is on whose side anymore. In the next few months we may all end up in pieces, and all for the political strategies of something I still don't even understand. So yes, I'm crazy. But aren't we all?” A cheeky grin spreads across his face. “He makes me feel good. And at least I'm going to war having been thoroughly fucked by the man I'm in love with,” he teases his friend, happy to say it out loud no matter how stupid that sounds. “Maybe you should do the same.”

Zoro snorts at that, glad at the openness and trust they share, “I’m not as fortunate as you are by being in love but I might find a way to achieve the fucked part.” He can’t believe that from their initial argument about Count Riario possibly killing Leo they somehow ended up talking about being in love. “You think Nico might lend me a hand with that?”

Leo raises an eyebrow but then laughs and nods. “I think he could. Now get the fuck out of my workshop so I can finish this,” he threatens his friend good-naturedly.

+++

When Zo almost bumps into Riario again later that day in front of Leonardo’s workshop, this time as he exits and the other arrives, he quickly clears his throat and manages, “A word, Count?”

Riario blinks. He cannot actually recall ever exchanging a sentence with this man that wasn’t laced with venom and it takes all his self-control not to pin him against the wall just for standing in his way. “A word about what?” he asks coolly.

“About Leonardo.”

Girolamo sneers at that. “My apologies, I did not realise I required your permission to visit him now. Does Leo even know you are standing here blocking my way?” he cannot help himself.

_Asshole._

“Leo…” Zo falters for a moment, not sure if he’s supposed to reveal that admission or not but he decides to come right out with it, “is in love with you. And I really hope you’re worth his trust. Because if not, I’ll know where to find you,” he says menacingly. “And if you lay only as much as a finger on him in the wrong way, I’m going to kill you with my own bare hands.”  

The count nearly chokes at _that_ revelation. All of the venomous words that he had had at the ready in response to whatever it was Leonardo da Vinci’s self-proclaimed bodyguard was going to tell him just evaporate from his mind. _He is in love with you._ He stares at Zoro, speechless for just a moment. He opens his mouth, but swallows again before he finds his tongue.

“I won’t,” he promises, offering a genuine smile this time. “Not in the _wrong_ way,” he adds wickedly. Having this conversation so openly is reckless and crazy, but his heart sings like it never had before. “Now, if you’d excuse me …” he motions for the other to step aside with his usual authority, barely able to hide how he is now even more desperate to see his lover and hear those words directly from his lips.

Zo can't help but smirk. _Maybe they are made for each other._ He nods his head and walks out on the street in search for Nico.


End file.
